Caius casually swung down the flame coated sword toward Orun who is coming at him from above.
The sword on its way down, had its flame amplified, and the further down it goes, the rapid its intensity and its area of effect magnified.
Orun was not confident enough in changing his path in time before the flamed sword gets to him. .
He is currently in midair, jumping down above Caius. It would require extra movements from Orun if he wanted to change what direction he is going to be falling at.
Caius is just as fast, if not faster than Orun is. The time it would take for Orun to change his path, is more than enough time for Caius to follow through, and also change the direction his great sword is going to be heading to.
Well aware of the indisputable fact, Orun made a choice of not evading the great sword, but instead taking the full grunt of it head on.
He positioned his hand well enough to withstand a collision with the great sword, cladding it all the way to his elbow in really thick and tough thorns with enough mana to regenerate itself with when destroyed.
Orun carved out the thorns attached to his hands, making them long and pointy, with edges all around it.
He has learned from trying to stop the advancement of the Spear, that his thorns are weak compared to the weapons Caius has with him.
If he plans on taking the great sword head on with his thorn cladded arm, he knew he needed to improvise on that so he can come out unscathed.
Orun had fallen further down, and is now within the range of Caius's great sword.
He stretched out his hand to the front, making it take the lead in the collision with the great sword.
*CLANG!*
The collision of Caius's great sword and Orun thorned arms, resounded in the air, temporarily giving rise to the sand in the ground, and awakening the trees in their slumber.
*CRACK!!!*
Orun's thorned arms could not bear the grunt of the sword's on it. The thorns that were protecting his arms, shattered little by little, with its remain slowly crumbling to the ground.
It's regeneration kicked up with immediate effect after being destroyed.
He used the force of the sword pressing him back, to change his trajectory, bypassing the sides of the great sword, and spreading his palm toward Caius before he even got to him.
His intention to sprout out thorns from his palm, and lengthen the range to where Caius stood, but he could not accomplish his goal in time.
The thorn had sprouted out from his palm, and on its way to Caius before Orun was forced to once again change his path due to the Spear that was coming for him from behind.
It was a mistake on his part. He did not notice in time that Caius no longer had with him, the Spear when he raised his sword at him.
He was too distracted with trying to contend against the might of the great sword that he for a moment there, had forgotten that the Spear could move around with Caius controlling it through telepathic means.
Orun in deep thought on how to outpace the Spear with the sizable distance between them, came up with an idea, one that would help increase his evading speed whenever he is stranded in midair.
He sprouted out vines from his sides and wrapped them around his body, then used it to hurl his body out of the Spear's range just in the nick of time.
The vines worked exactly as Orun had pictured it to go, granting him easy mobility in midair.
The Spear stopped before it got buried in the ground. It stopped at an arm's reach away from where Caius stood.
He grabbed unto the Spear with his left hand, and the great sword in his right hand, he started his hot chase after Orun.
Orun had gotten off from the Vines, and his feet was now in direct contact with the ground.
Seeing that Caius was making his approach toward him, Orun sprouted out vines, growing them like corn fields, to stop or better still, stall Caius in his tracks.
He knew very well that as long as Caius still has his weapons with him, a direct contact with his thorns and vines would have no effect on him.
Orun has to make use of his thorns in ways that will catch Caius unaware, ways that only he could think of.
Like he had expected, Caius was easily able to cut down the vines no matter how many stood in his path until he got to the supposed place Orun had earlier stood.
Orun knew the vines would not be able to stop Caius no matter how much mana he uses in their creation.
To begin with, his intention was not to stop Caius, but to stall and distract his vision for just the few seconds it would take for him to get closer to where he is.
When he was making the vines that stood in his path, he made sure to make them tall enough to keep him out of Caius's range of sight, so he could carry out his well thought out plan.
After Orun had sprouted out the vines to distract Caius, he immediately began work on his next plan of action by cloaking his presence from Caius, and hiding underneath the ground beneath him.
He had used his vines to carefully make a path in the ground for him to go in through, and when he was in, he used the vines to close it back up, and used his soil elemental skill to make the sand above as natural as it can get, so Caius would suspect nothing when his feet touches the ground.
"Skill activation; Soil Grand Mausoleum".
Orun from the ground he was in, whispered out his skills even though he had no reason to, but still did it out of the thrill he gets from saying something amazing, and so it turns out to be.